FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT HERO WORSHIP - PAGE 2

Hero worship: Leland Burbank. Remember the name. The Wauconda resident may soon grace the covers of romance novels . . . if readers have their way. Burbank, who works as a knight at Medieval Times in Schaumburg, recently won the 1996-97 Readers Choice Mr. Romance Cover Model award at the Romantic Times convention in Baton Rouge. About 1,000 attendees voted him their favorite hero for his looks, speaking ability, charisma and charm. He displayed those attributes by performing a vignette, portraying a fictional vampire hero in Annee Carier's novel "Redemption," to be published in January.

"[Sept. 11] happened four years ago, champ. Deal with it," a cop snarls at a New York City firefighter, just after the cop writes the fire-fighter a ticket. So much for hero worship. The compelling premise of "Rescue Me," which begins its second season Tuesday at 9 p.m. on FX, turns the concept of post-9/11 hero worship on its head. The crew members of New York City's 62 Truck, the unruly firefighting family depicted on the show, do more than their share of dangerous rescues, but they also mess up. A lot. For instance, early in the second season, Tommy Gavin (star and co-creator Denis Leary)

Birthday: March 11, 1934. Birthplace: El Paso, Tex. Occupation: TV reporter and anchor Current home: Maclean, Va. Marital status: Married to Jan Smith Donaldson since 1983. She's a TV news reporter in Washington, D.C. Children: Sam, 31; Jennifer, 24; Thomas, 23; and Robert, 19. Working on: My new show "Prime Time Live" debuts Aug. 3. The last good movie I saw was: "Working Girl." I stay home to watch: When I have a few minutes, I sit with the remote control and zap around and watch three movies at once.

Hero worship Jen Patterson is on CSN's "Monsters in the Morning" 6-9 a.m. weekdays. Julie DiCaro is online 24-7 at chicagonow.com/blogs/league-of-her-own. Julie DiCaro Jimmy Greenfield Phillip Thompson Dr. Fantasy Jen Patterson Who's going to be the next hero for the Bears? Superhero? Or regular hero? I'll say Johnny Knox for both. Bette Midler. Didn't you know? Al Afalava, which is either the name of a Bears safety or a Middle Eastern pastry.

The day after Danny Jones had scored 38 points to lead Rockford Boylan to a 90-78 victory over Woodstock in the Class AA sectional title game Friday at Rockford Auburn, the 6-foot-6-inch, 235-pound senior was studying in the library. "Trying to get a little psychology done," he said. What he received was an impromptu lesson in hero worship. "I must have signed about 20 autographs," said Jones, who is considered a leading candidate for Mr. Basketball of Illinois 1986. A picture of the power forward dunking against Woodstock adorned the front page of that morning's Rockford Register Star.

In the land of margarita-hoisting Parrotheads, Mac McAnally is best known for his tenure as a musician in Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. A man of many musical trades--and one of Nashville's most respected songwriters--the singer, guitarist and producer first met Buffett back in the 1970s. "I met Jimmy a long time ago, a long time before we started playing onstage together," McAnally says. Although he'd performed with Buffett in a small, two-man acoustic show in the late '80s, it wasn't until he found himself onstage in an arena packed with hardcore Buffett followers in 1992 that the true intensity of Buffett's fan base hit home.

(Reuters) - The governing body of U.S. college sports on Monday fined Penn State University $60 million and voided its football victories for the past 14 seasons in an unprecedented rebuke for the school's failure to stop coach Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of children. NCAA President Mark Emmert said the school had put "hero worship and winning at all costs" ahead of integrity, honesty and responsibility. Penn State was not given the so-called death penalty that could have suspended its football program, but it was banned from lucrative post-season games for four years and had the number of scholarships available to players reduced from 25 to 15. Penn State officials were accused of not taking action after being alerted that Sandusky, a former assistant football coach, was sexually abusing children.

In Londontown . . . Jolly good: We`ve talked to William Perry once or twice since he has been in Chicago and so we could only chuckle Tuesday when one of London's daily papers quoted him as saying he loved "your British bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes). I hear your beer is good, so I`ll give it a try." The bigger the better The Brits are absolutely mesmerized by size. Newspaper pictures of Perry quietly walking through Heathrow Airport with wife Sherry outnumbered those of Jim McMahon in full fatigue, and the players are constantly asked about their bulk.

Through the Lookingglass Looks like you'll be able to pay rent this month after all: Lookingglass Theatre's glitzy benefit, glassquerade 2007, is sold out (tickets would've set you back at least $650). Better yet, you still have an opportunity to rub elbows with Lookingglass darlings David Schwimmer and Joey Slotnik at the theater's late-night benefit, the Madhatter's Ball, at Billy Dec's concept club The Underground. With specialty cocktails, appetizers and DJ Paul Sevigny (that's Chloe's brother to you)